Rivett home sets suburb record at $1.205 million, after selling via auction

A four-bedroom home in Rivett has set a suburb record after a fierce and fast bidding war pushed the price to $1.205 million, surpassing the previous suburb benchmark by a whisker of $5000.

More than two dozen people gathered at the front yard of 4 Santalum Street including eight registered bidders keen to get their hands on the keys.

Selling agents Tim and Justine Burke of Luton Properties Weston Creek and Molonglo Valley said they were surprised the home set the suburb record, noting that it sold for $175,000 above the reserve.

“It was an unexpected bonus. It certainly wasn’t our goal but once the auction got going, it definitely surpassed our expectations,” Mr Burke said.

Bidding for the home kicked off at $800,000 and quickly made its way to the $1 million mark thanks to six active bidders.

The eventual buyers entered the race quite late into the auction and fought hard to the very end until the hammer fell in their favour at $1.205 million, Mr Burke said.

“It was the perfect day for auction in terms of the weather and the number of people who turned up,” he added.

“During the campaign, a lot of potential buyers loved that the house had a lot of living space spread across two levels. It had a popular floor plan for families.”

The eventual buyers were a young family moving into the area.

The previous Rivett record was also held by Mr Burke by the house at 34 Streeton Drive which sold for $1.2 million in 2018.

This latest sale comes after Mr Burke broke Bonython’s suburb record last week with the house at 4 Pavy Street for $1.12 million, surpassing the previous record by $97,000.

In April, Bonython recorded its first million-dollar sale for the house at 66 Don Dunston Drive at $1.023 million.

“Given the high buyer demand and the lack of stock at the moment, it’s not uncommon to see 30 to 40 groups through the first weekend of an open home inspection,” Mr Burke said.

“We seem to use the word ‘bubble’ so often now but Canberra really is its own bubble. There’s strong buyer confidence and thanks to our strong employment rate here, that has helped maintain that demand.

“All our auctions at the moment have had a good turnout and the number of registered bidders has gone up quite considerably.”